by Amanda Ashby
seventeen
And now Mia, I want you to repeat after me. There was a fire, you inhaled some smoke. It made you feel a bit . . . strange. But everything is back to normal now.”
“No, we lit the fire to turn on the sprinklers so we could run away from the zombies.” Mia folded her arms and wondered just how long she was going to have to sit out in the hallway listening to this guy try and convince her that what happened didn’t happen. She glanced at her watch. It had been half an hour since the spell had been reversed, and in that time, the place had been swarmed by firefighters and at least thirty of Chase’s Department of Paranormal Containment colleagues. Including this monkey.
“No,” the guy repeated in a firm voice. “No zombies. Zombies don’t exist. It was a fire.”
“Zombies.” She glared back at him.
“Fire.” The guy gritted his teeth. “It was a—”
“It’s okay, Jon, I’ve cleared it. You don’t need to keep trying to do the memory adjustment,” a voice said, and Mia looked up in delight to see Chase standing just feet away from them. Her heart started to flutter.
This was the first time she’d seen him since he let her out of the harness, and even when she’d run over to thank him, he’d been whisked away by someone else. Still, he was here now and looking far more glamorous than anyone had a right to considering what they’d just been through. Even the smudge down the right-hand side of his cheek looked debonair.
“Thank God.” The guy got to his feet and wiped his brow. “I’ve debriefed thousands of survivors before, but I’ve never met such a stubborn mind.”
“Not stubborn—clever,” Chase corrected as he narrowed his eyes and glared at the guy. “She’s the first person to ever manage a stage four reversal spell, so watch it.”
“That was her? She’s the queen who survived?” Jon suddenly looked at her with newfound respect, which would be nice if Mia knew quite why he was doing it. “I didn’t realize.”
“Yeah, well, now you do. Anyway, the boss wants you back in the gym. They’ve dismantled the hydrogen-cyanide device, and there are only five more people to be debriefed, so once that’s done you’re clearing out.”
“What about you? Are you coming?” Jon asked as he headed back to the gym doors, but Chase shook his head.
“No. I’ve still got my senior prom to go to.”
“Prom’s still on?” Mia waited until Jon had disappeared before getting to her feet and racing over to where Chase was standing, his thumbs looped through the waist of his tuxedo pants, looking awkward.
“They figured it would be best to do it like that to help ensure that no one remembers,” he said, not quite meeting her gaze. “Speaking of which, it looks like Jon had quite a struggle trying to get you to forget.”
“What can I say?” She shrugged. “I guess I just believe different things than other people.”
“Thankfully you’re the only one. The debriefs have been one hundred percent successful apart from you. The reason it didn’t work is probably the same reason you could still remember where you bought the spell from in the first place,” Chase said, still not looking directly at her, and Mia felt some of her excitement start to fade.
“What’s wrong? Is everything okay? Is there something you’re not telling me?” She tried to study his face for clues, but he wasn’t giving anything away.
“Everything’s fine.” He ran a hand through his short hair. “Anyway, I’d better get back. I still need to give a final report to my boss, but I just wanted to check that you were okay.”
Well, she had been until he had started acting all distant on her again. And after everything they’d been through. But, before she could say anything, Candice came racing toward her and Chase quietly slipped out of sight.
“There you are,” Candice said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. We’ve got to get back in there, because the band has just shown up and they’re about to announce the prom queen and king.” Her friend dragged Mia to the gym, where everyone was standing around looking completely normal (apart from being slightly wet).
“Oh, right.” Mia blinked at her friend in surprise. “With everything that’s happened I kind of forgot about that.”
“Mia Everett, you have defied the odds and been nominated for prom queen and now you’re telling me that you forgot about it? Are you feeling okay?”
“Um.” Mia rubbed her brow in confusion. This ending definitely wasn’t like anything she had seen on Buffy before. First up, Chase was meant to be happy to see her, but instead he seemed determined to avoid her at all costs, and now Candice, her best friend, appeared to have no memory of anything that had happened.
“I knew it! You’re not feeling well, are you?” Candice looked concerned. “You know, I’ve always thought you had a bit of recurring mono. I bet that’s it.”
“No.” Mia shook her head. “Honestly, I’m fine. I just inhaled too much smoke from the fire.”
“True.” Candice nodded her head before pausing for a moment. “Of course another, more likely reason is because of all the zombies you’ve just spent the last hour fighting.”
“You remember?” Mia accused, and Candice just shrugged as she pushed through the crowd so they could get closer to the front.
“Of course. I mean, how stupid do they think we are to fall for those amateur memory-readjustment techniques? Not that I told them that. The guy who was debriefing me was very cute so it was nice to have an excuse to stare into his eyes.”
“Candice Bailey, you were trying to hit on the guy who was debriefing you?” Mia turned to her friend in surprise.
“What, it’s all right for you to do it but not me?” Candice demanded as she ignored the dirty looks people were giving her for pushing in.
“Jon? Trust me, I wasn’t hitting on him.” Mia rolled her eyes. “He was an idiot, and—”
“No, not that guy. I mean Chase.”
“Oh.” She blushed as she recalled that Candice had actually asked Chase to the prom as her date. “Of course I don’t like Chase,” she protested. “That is crazy talk. How could I like someone that you like?”
“Me? Who said I liked him?”
“You did,” Mia reminded her. “On numerous occasions.”
“Yes, but only so that I could get you to admit that you liked him,” Candice explained in a patient voice, and Mia felt her mouth drop open.
“But why would you think that? I never once said I liked him. I didn’t even think he was cute.”
“I rest my case.” Candice grinned. “Since the fact is he is very cute and if you didn’t like him, then you would’ve been quite happy to acknowledge this.”
“Okay, fine.” Mia threw up her hands in defeat. “But it doesn’t matter anyway, because now that the crisis is over, he couldn’t get away from me fast enough. You know, I’m sick of living in the real world. I think I’m going to stick with television from now on. It’s a lot less draining.”
“And here I was thinking that you were clever.” Candice rolled her eyes. “The only reason he was being funny with you is because you seem to have forgotten that you’ve already got a date for the prom. In fact, you almost turned the whole senior class into you-know-whats just so you could go to the prom with this particular person. And Chase is many things, but I doubt he’s a mind reader.”
Mia widened her eyes. “You mean, you think he—”
“Well, duh.” Candice shot her a sympathetic look as if to say she was pleased Mia had finally caught up.
“I’ve got to find him.” Mia started to glance around her, desperately looking for a tall zombie hunter with short light brown hair and the sort of green eyes that a girl could get lost in. “Where is he—”
“Shhhhh,” someone from behind them hissed. “They’re about to announce the winners. And hey, aren’t you supposed to be onstage with the rest of them?”
Mia blinked for a moment before realizing that Rob, Samantha, and all the other nominees were all lined up at the back o
f the stage looking exactly like they belonged there.
“Crap.” Candice scowled as she tried to push Mia around the stage so she could climb up the stairs. “I knew I forgot something.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Mia shrugged just as Mr. Haves stepped up to the podium with a large bandage wrapped around his head. Mia sent him a mental apology since she had a feeling one of the marks would probably match the heel of her shoe.
“And it gives me great pleasure to announce that Newbury High’s prom king is Rob Ziggerman.” Around them people started to whistle and clap as Rob got up to the podium and gave them all a goofy grin. Mia sighed. There was no denying that Rob was very good-looking, but the problem was that there was no real substance to him. What you saw was what you got. Unlike Chase, who seemed to have more layers than an onion.
Rob gave the crowd a wave as he readjusted his crown to no doubt make sure it didn’t ruin his hair. In the background Samantha was smoothing down her gown in anticipation as Mr. Haves headed back to the microphone.
At that moment Mia caught sight of a familiar figure just to the left of the stage. Ah, there he was. For a moment she just stared at him. He was so perfect. So kind. So clever. And okay, yes, he was incredibly good-looking as well and the sooner she got over there and—
“And the prom queen is . . . Mia Everett,” Mr. Haves called out.
“What?” Samantha howled from the back of the stage, only sounding slightly more surprised than Mia herself, who had been busy looking at Chase.
“So, is Mia Everett here?” Mr. Haves turned to the other girls on the stage before frowning. “I’m not sure that Mia is here. A couple of our students had to go to the hospital due to mild smoke inhalation from the fire we had earlier, so—”
“Not so fast, she’s right here,” Candice yelled out before grabbing hold of Mia’s hand. “Out of the way—prom queen coming through,” she snapped to the people standing by the stage steps and then with a final push, she guided Mia in the direction of the stage.
“Well done, Mia.” Mr. Haves gave her a smile as someone else thrust a tiara on her head and a sash around her shoulders. Then before she knew it, she was standing next to Rob under the spotlight. She spun around to try and find Chase, but he had disappeared. So much for her big chance to explain to him how she really felt. She was just about to go and look for him when Rob grabbed her hand.
“Hey Mia, congratulations. I can’t think of anyone who deserved prom queen more.”
“I don’t think Samantha would agree with you,” she said in a dull voice as she glanced over to where Samantha was having an animated conversation with Principal Keegan (no doubt lodging her formal protest). “Anyway, congratulations to you, too. So what happens now? Are we supposed to dance or something?”
“Yeah. Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but would you mind if we skipped with tradition? I’ve got a headache. Actually, it feels like I’ve done five rounds with Muhammad Ali. Must’ve been from the fire. Anyway, I think I might need to get it looked at.”
“Oh, right.” She flushed. “Sure.”
“Plus.” He suddenly grinned at her. “I think if I danced with you, that guy from our biology class who is standing behind us might just kill me. He doesn’t say much, but I the get the feeling he could handle himself in a fight, and I don’t want to take any chances.”
But Mia hardly heard him as she spun around to see Chase leaning against the wall with a small smile tugging at his full bottom lip as his green eyes caught hers.
“I thought you’d left,” she croaked as he started to walk toward her, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I almost did,” he admitted. “Because the idea of watching you and Rob together wasn’t exactly high up on my list of fun things to do.”
“I know, but Chase . . . about Rob . . . I was such an idiot. I mean, he’s a nice guy, but he’s not the guy for me.”
“Really?” He stopped just inches from her and seemed to be studying her face.
“Really.” She nodded and smiled. “You see, this really amazing guy I know once told me he thought I said yes to Rob just because he asked me, rather than because he was someone I really liked.”
“Sounds like a smart guy,” Chase said as he took another step toward her.
“He is,” Mia agreed. Somewhere in the background the music had started to play but she wasn’t conscious of anything but Chase. “Very smart.”
“Mia, about the harness.” He suddenly frowned. “I’m really sorry. I should never have done that, but after what happened to Audrey, I just couldn’t bear the idea of you getting hurt.”
“Really?” she croaked. “But I don’t understand. I’ve made so many stupid mistakes. And I watch way too much TV. How can you like me?”
“I tried to gas the whole senior class. And I pay way too much attention to the rulebook. How can you like me?” he countered as he finally closed the distance between them and snaked his arms around her waist. His face was just inches from hers and she caught her breath. He was like no one she had ever met before, and she was fairly certain that if he wasn’t in her life every single day, she would be very sad indeed.
“P-perhaps we could just call it even?” she suggested in a flirty voice as her heart started to pound like a drum in her chest.
“ ‘Even’ works for me,” he rasped as he lowered his head even closer to hers. “But there’s something I’ve got to ask you.”
“What?” she said as his hands tightened around her waist and she felt her knees start to buckle.
“Do you think we could stop talking now so I could kiss you? I’ve heard that it’s how all the very best TV shows end.”
A smile tugged at her lips, and Mia felt the most glorious rush of joy go racing through her body, but before she could even answer, Chase’s mouth came crashing down on hers. She shivered in delight at the feel of his lips on hers, and in turn he deepened the kiss. His cheek rubbed against hers as she melted into his chest and snaked her arms around him, because the feel of Chase so close to her made her feel . . . like a queen.
